Cobra Verde: Nightlife

Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe were two of the most successful and intelligent hit-makers of the '80s, but they somehow lost their stateside appeal when the decade shifted. The duo remains an international pop sensation, but it's been relegated to the status of a "retro"-radio cult favorite here. That's too bad, because the '90s have seen Tennant and Lowe take their music in an impressively mature direction aligned with earnest emotion (as opposed to cold irony), the dance floor (as opposed to the brain), and a distinctly gay sensibility (as opposed to Tennant's previously coy application of ambiguous pronouns). Very, from 1993, was a masterful synthesis of these three factors, the continuation of an almost unparalleled run of stellar albums, but 1996's Bilingual proved a curious dud bereft of Pet Shop Boys' trademark big hooks and clever lyrics. Though the album was remarkably prescient in its appropriation of South American musical styles, it just wasn't as smart or enjoyable as it should have been. The new Nightlife, on the other hand, is a return to both the resplendent craft of Very and the dark undertones of 1990's Behavior, ironically making it Pet Shop Boys' most simultaneously accessible and alienating disc. "Happiness Is An Option" and "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk" (one of many tracks aided by Massive Attack engineer Craig Armstrong) pair some of Lowe's sweetest melodies with some of Tennant's bitterest takes on relationships. "Radiophonic," on the other hand, is a menacing love letter addressed to the dance floor, while the spooky "Vampires" makes the album's nighttime theme explicit. The best tracks are saved for last, however, when the duo unleashes not only "New York City Boy," a giddy disco number that references both David Bowie and Village People, but also "In Denial," a gorgeous duet between Tennant and Kylie Minogue (who together recreate a dialogue between a daughter and her gay father). For songwriters so playfully determined to go over the top, Tennant and Lowe make Nightlife surprisingly subtle. Yet the payoff is worthwhile, as the album renews faith in Pet Shop Boys' ability to be fun, serious, and catchy even if the band no longer gets to leer down cynically from its post at the top of the pops.